Commission approves conference center contract

The Grant County Commission approved a contract with the Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce at their meeting on Thursday to manage the newly renovated Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center. But lingering concerns regarding possibly overpaying the Chamber kept the vote from being unanimous.

The contract with the Chamber is for everything from basic janitorial work to promoting the conference center to businesses, organizations and individuals as an event space. Chamber President Scott Terry said that would require one full-time and one part-time employee. For the Chamber’s services, the contract will pay the Chamber $80,000 per year, plus 40 percent of gross revenue the conference center draws.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne stood by his insistence during the commission’s Tuesday work session that this was too sweet a deal for the Chamber and not much of one for the county, eventually voting against the contract.

“I am OK with guaranteeing $80,000 to the Chamber, because I understand the risks and upfront costs of taking on this job,” Browne said. “But I am still not OK with the 40 percent split of gross revenues. That is way too much, and it creates the likelihood that the county will be losing tens of thousands of dollars each year while the Chamber earns tens of thousands above and beyond their costs. I have no problem with building in a reasonable profit for a contractor. But this seems to me to go beyond reasonable. I don’t believe this is the best deal the county can get. And, I think our haste to get something in place endangers four years of finances in exchange for starting a month or two sooner.”

Browne also voiced concerns over what he saw as legal gaps in the responsibilities expected of the Chamber in the contract.

“I believe the county manager has discussed many or maybe all of these issues with the Chamber, and has reached an understanding with them,” he said. “But I’m not comfortable with those understandings being sort of side agreements. Why not incorporate them into an enforceable contract?”

The contract approved on Thursday is for four years, with the possibility of a four-year extension. It also, however, includes a 180-day cancellation clause. That was enough for District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards, who voted for the contract in the end.

“We had a huge discussion on Tuesday,” Edwards said. “I have many of the same concerns as Commissioner Browne. I would like the contract to be more spelled out. But I also intend to rely on the fact that we can cancel the contract if we need to. From what I hear about the conference center, there are a lot of people who are skeptical. But I am also hopeful. I think there is potential there.”

Terry said that he too was glad for the 180-day cancellation clause, should the Chamber not turn out to be able to handle the workload. But, he said the pay outlined in the contract would just cover labor and associated costs.

“None of this is going toward my salary,” he said. “It can’t. Because there won’t be any left for it. We really crunched the numbers because we really thought this would be close. Having someone at that convention center Monday through Friday is very important — having someone who can answer the phone, show people around the building, having someone who can fill the space. This is, frankly, a darn hard place to get to from anywhere else in New Mexico, so we have to make it look the best. I truly hope we can do it with the amount you’re paying us. If not, shame on me.”

He also said that if the conference center brings in more than $80,000, that would mean they were so busy Terry would have to use the additional 40 percent to hire more staff.

The two longest-serving commissioners, Commission Chair Brett Kasten and District 1 Commissioner Gabe Ramos, said they had been struggling with the conference center for years and so trusted the contract County Manager Charlene Webb and County Attorney Abigail Robinson developed with Terry.

“When we got here, the county had already spent millions of dollars on a building that was totally unusable,” Kasten said. “We could either fix it or throw it away.”

“We inherited that building,” Ramos said. “As a county commissioner, I depend on the county attorney to do her job. I depend on the county manager to do her job.”

Ramos also compared the conference center to the community centers in municipalities around the county that are open to the public.

The commission approved the contract with a four-to-one vote.

District 28 state Sen. Howie Morales also presented his legislative wrap-up to the commission at Thursday’s meeting. He said one of the biggest threats to the county were the possible repeal of Hold Harmless payments, already being phased out, and punishments for local governments that increased their gross receipts tax as allowed to protect them from the phaseout.

“I would suggest they look at that tight,” Kasten said. “If you sent the message to Wall Street that New Mexico would remove the bond capacity for local governments, that would destroy the state, not just the counties.”

Morales said that he would continue to fight against such measures.

“A weak local government leads to a weak state,” he said. “The county, the town, local governments — we all work together. My concern is the impact it will have on the state in years to come. New Mexico is already sitting on 1 percent reserves. That means a lower bond rate. We’re digging a deeper hole and there is no need to do that.”

District 4 Commissioner Billy Billings said the state and the county, now smarting due to state trouble, should have planned ahead for these lean times by saving during heartier years, as he does on his ranch. That caused a stir among the longer-serving commissioners and Webb, who insisted they had been saving and cutting spending. They said they could not control effects from unfunded mandates from the state.

The commission also approved a resolution in support of the SunZia renewable energy transfer line’s plans to lay their line through southern Grant County. Their approval was reliant on SunZia working closely with property owners to give them the best deal possible.